Although there are a large variety of jewelry designs, most include some sort of a central ornamental piece, such as a gemstone, disposed in a setting, possibly including another aesthetic design element (e.g. engraving, finish, etc.). In most cases, the setting, including the gemstone or whatever other ornamental element is included with or on the setting are fashioned in such a way that they form a single unchangeable piece. In other words, ornamental element is permanently attached to the setting and the setting, in turn, is permanently attached to the rest of the jewelry piece.
Various enhancements to this type of permanent jewelry settings have been proposed previously. These include examples of jewelry in which the ornamental elements, such as the gemstone, are engage by a clasping mechanism. Examples of such designs may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,434 Wertheimer (1994), U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,766 Schunk et al. (1989), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,696 Jenkins (1988). However, these designs typically include a separate hinged gemstone holder that puts a number of constraints on the ornamental appearance of the jewelry piece. Other prior art focuses on the interchangeability of larger sections of the ring, such as the setting itself. Examples of these types of designs may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,011 DiGillio et al. (1976), U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,095 Tawil et al. (1995), U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,482 Gheblikian (1990) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,317 Hendricks (1993). These all provide variations on either a keyed or directly grasping mechanism in which the setting may be replaced. However, all have a tendency to require a number of intricate mechanisms that makes these jewelry pieces difficult to manufacture. In addition, many of these designs can add substantial bulk to the jewelry piece, thus the limiting the design flexibility of these pieces.